Metal crimping tool



Oct. 29, 1957 E. H. JOHNSON METAL CRIMPING TOOL Filed March 2a, 1956Fig.4

EDWIN H. JOHNSON IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent 2,811,065 METAL CRIMPING rooL Edwin H. Johnson,Portland, Oreg.

Application March 28, 1956, Serial No. 574,554

1 Claim. (Cl. 81-15) This invention relates to improvements in handtools and more particularly to a metal crimping tool designed for butnot necessarily limited to use in automobile body and fender repairwork.

The modern trend of elaborately styling the fenders and other sheetmetal parts of a vehicle renders their entire replacement expensive andwasteful, especially when such replacement becomes necessary even thoughthe part is only partially damaged and the undamaged portion couldotherwise be salvaged.

Accordingly, it is one of the principal objects of my invention toprovide a tool of the character described by means of which a partiallydamaged fender or car body can be repaired and refinished at only afraction of the cost of an entire replacement part and its installation.

Prior to applying my tool to the work to be dealt with the damagedportion thereof is cut out along straight or curved lines as desired ornecessary and an inset of matching sheet metal is cut to a size slightlygreater than that of the cut-away portion. Following this my tool isapplied to the marginal edges of the remaining metal and those of theinset and progressively crimped thereby to complement each other whennested one within the other. The nested edges are then spot-weldedtogether. The resultant channel surrounding the inset is then filledwith lead or other suitable material and the entire surfaces are finallysmoothed off and painted to match the original color of the vehiclefender or body.

The foregoing and other objects will appear as my invention is morefully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustratedin the accompanying drawing, and finally pointed out in the appendedclaim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a metal crimping tool made inaccordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of Figure 1 showing the jaws of the tool inposition for engagement with the marginal edge of a sheet of metal beingdealt with.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the position of the jawsat the completion of the metal crimping operation.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a sheet of metal after adamaged section has been removed and the edges of the metal defining theopening caused by such removal have been crimped by my crimping tool.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 illustrating a metal patch orinset whose marginal edges have been crimped to nest within the crimpedmarginal edges de fining the opening in the sheet of Figure 4. A portionof the channel formed by adjacent crimped edges is shown provided with afiller.

Figure 6 is a sectional end view taken along the line 66 of Figure 5.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

The working or tool parts of the invention may be made of malleablecasting or other suitable material, with the exception of the crimpingjaws orshaping elements, which are of steel or like hardened metal. Asshown in the drawing, the tool comprises two handles, indicated byreference numerals 1 andZ, which may be of any desired length asindicated. The-handles near one of their ends are formed withrounded'interengaging portions 3 pivotally interconnected by a rivet orthe like as at 4. The handles 1 and 2 extend forwardly of the pivot 4 asat 5 and 6, respectively, the handle 2 extending forwardly a slightlygreater distance than the handle 1 as shown. To .these terminal ends ofthe handles I pivotally attach by means of rivets 7 and 8 the rear endsof forwardly diverging cooperating metal crimping jaws 9 and 10,respectively, pivotally interconnected intermediate their ends by arivet or the like as at 10A.

The upper surface of the forward end of the jaw 10 is provided with avertical lip 11 extending upwardly from the rear edge of its forwardlyextending horizontal terminal portion 12. The lower surface of the jaw 9terminates in a forward pendent lip 13 and a rearwardly spaced limitstop 14 extending downwardly to a greater extent than the lip 13 andbelow the lip 11 of the jaw 10.

The utility of the limit stop 14, lips 11 and 13, and the horizontalportion 12 of the lower jaw 10 is best illustrated in Figures 2 and 3wherein it will be seen that the limit stop 14 provides a gauge for theextent to which the edge 15 of the sheet metal 16 being dealt with canbe inserted between the jaws 9 and 10. The amount of insertionestablishes the width of the offset marginal portion 15A formed at thecompletion of the crimping operation as the cooperating lips 11 and 13are forced toward each other by their respective handles 2 and 1.

The damaged portion of a sheet of metal to be repaired or patche isfirst cut out along straight or curved lines as desired or necessary andthe edges of the metal are then crimped as aforesaid-for example, asshown in Figure 4. Following this a section of matching metal 17 is cutto fit the area defined by the edges of the cutout portion. The edges ofthe patch or inset are then crimped as at 18 in the same manner as thoseof the main sheet 16 to complement the same so that they will nest onewithin the other as shown in Figures 5 and 6. When so nested theoverlapping ofiset marginal edges 15 and 18 can be spot-welded as at 20or otherwise secured together in any approved manner. When the patch isthus secured in place the resultant channel 21 surrounding the inset isfilled with lead or other suitable material as at 22 and then smoothedand painted along with the patch 17 and main sheet 16.

The tool may be applied to the sheet metal in the position shown or inan inverted position, and in either position greater leverage will beapplied to the jaw 9 than to the jaw 10 through the medium of theshorter handle extension 5 of the handle 1 to which the inner end of thejaw 9 is pivotally attached.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention I amaware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves toother skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Having thus described my invention what I claim as newand desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A metal crimping tool comprising elongated handles pivoted together atone of their ends, forward extensions of unequal length formed on thepivoted ends of the handles, jaws pivoted at one of their ends to said.extensions and pivotally interconnected intermediate their ends, thefree ends of the jaws having opposing faces, the jaw Patented Oct. 29,1957 connected to the longer of said extensicms terminating inReferences Cited in the file of this patent a fiat horizontal projectionon its said face and provided UNITED STATES PATENTS with a vertical lipat its inner end, the other of said jaws connected to the other of saidhandle extensions being iz "g; 5%? et a1 provided at the forward end ofits said face with a pendent 5 m Say um lip parallel to and forwardlyoffset from the vertical lip FOREIGN PATENTS q t other of said jaws a pov d w a P d n 774,948 France Oct 1, 1934 hunt stop in rearward spacedrelation to its pendent hp 617 386 Germany Aug 17 1935 to limit inwardmovement of the edge of a sheetof metal 874:280 Germany Apr 1953 betweensaid jaws. I

